Actually, I have yet to try Active-D lighting in-camera with the D3. I’ve used it in Capture NX with success on highly contrasty lighting, but haven’t used it as a camera setting as of yet.

Just as with my uses in post with RAW, I think Active-D lighting would be most beneficial for low light scenes where the light is very harsh. D-lighting should be able to “open up” the shadows in contrast to the standard settings.

Once you go manual, I think you’ll love it. It’s hard to go back once you’ve switched over. For the longest time I shot aperture priority exclusively, using exposure compensation, but manual is great for all but the quickest situations.

http://flickr.com/photos/dr_t/2362665083/

I’m going to have to make a point of getting more comfortable with manual and using the histogram.

As an aside, I find the 50mm much sharper on the D70 compared to the D2x wide open. On the D70, it’s very, very sharp even at f/1.4, while the demanding D2x sensor always made the lens look poor wide open. Unfortunately I haven’t used the prime on the D3 enough to get a feel for this, but I believe the lens is somewhere in between in performance on the new flagship.

And see REAL tests made with Dynamic Range + Sur Exposure. Pictures talk always better than words

After seeing this site, I knew I didn’t use my S5 Pro correctly as well.

I would also like to know if it’s possible to get the S5 color rendition on the D3 through a profile, as i’m starting to love how colors show on my prints.

Thanks for your thoughts on this and for sharing your own technique. The point you mention of producing best image quality considering lens performance, ISO, and detail are all very interesting, and I would agree.

It is not always best to shoot at the lowest ISO if that also means compromising on lens performance. Even though stopping down and using a higher ISO will produce more noise in most cases, it can also mean a dramatic increase in image detail with respect to the lens. Great point.